In 1884, brothers Fred and Harry Struben, having discovered gold on the farm Wilgespruit at the western end of the Witwatersrand, were granted concessions to mine the area.

[3]: 286  Though the Struben brothers' Confidence Reef bore little gold and their mine was unprofitable, the ramshackle town that grew around it became the Roodepoort Municipality in 1904.

[3]: 286  Incorporating the towns of Hamburg, Florida and Maraisburg, Roodepoort became a city in 1977, and has since developed as one of Johannesburg's most predominantly Afrikaans-speaking districts.

The CBD of the city has shifted from its historical center to a location adjacent to the N1 highway & 14th Avenue interchange in Constantia Kloof.

[4] Regional headquarters of banks, a large hospital, various office parks and two hotels are found in the new CBD.

Another large greenspace is the Kloofendal Nature Reserve, a 128ha park with trails, amphitheatre, dam and small wild mammals.